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2003 Africa - Two Trips Reports - July and November
These reports start life as emailed updates sent home while we are in transit. They are later reworded somewhat before being published on the Internet - to carefully respect the cultural and political sensitivities of the region... To save download time, many of the images here are hyperlinked to a larger more detailed one if you want to have a closer look. They aren't just a log of activity, but we try to offer insight into what we experience, and how it affects you.
17/7/03 Update #1 - Michelle reports...
We arrived safely in Harare and have a miracle to report! Our and your prayers have been answered for the safe passage of us and the 20 Bibles and all the other resources we brought over to give away. We were able to bring in the Bibles without any excess luggage fees as our (Craig and Michelle) around-the-world tickets allowed us 64 kilos each!
But an even bigger miracle is to be reported. Harare is a lovely new airport with hardly any air traffic. When we arrived we were out on the footpath within 15 minutes of landing. Usually when people arrive most bags are opened and inspected to see if you are bringing in goods to be sold. We have been concerned that the 20 bibles might be charged a large duty on them, even though we put stickers on them marked, "This bible is a gift from Holroyd New Life Church. It is for free distribution to LifeLine students and is not to be sold".
Well when we were standing by the luggage carousel (for all of 3 minutes) an airport worker walked past who looked like he was on his way home (had his jumper over his shoulder). Brian greeted him in Shona and he stopped (he was surprised that Brian knew the language after he saw us come through the foreigners' gate), and would even bother to greet him - perhaps because he was black. He chatted with us for a while and we found out that he was a professing Christian. We shared why we were in Zimbabwe. Once we had our luggage, he took one of the two trolleys and told us to follow him. He walked to the left of the customs section (which is a row of rooms waiting for bags to be searched), and said something in Shona to one of the officials and didn't even stop! We simply walked completely around customs!
He then left the area. We were stunned! It was like having an angel turn up (Heb 13 style!) - especially after the warnings about what might happen with possible duty on all the Bibles, etc Praise God! He had a plan in place for the safe passage of the bibles that we couldn't possibly foresee or plan ourselves!
We are in good health and spirits. We have had almost no jetlag (after no sleep on the 15 hour flight from Sydney to Joburg). Brian and Craig were buzzing when they saw ex-All Blacks' captain, Sean Fitzpatrick waiting near us for his luggage; he was in South Africa for the Tri-Nations Rugby....
20/7/03 Update #2 - from Beira, Mozambique
From Michelle. Today we went to church in Beira - never will I again complain that our meetings are long - this one was 4½ hours!!! The people here are so eager to have God in their lives and they don't care how long it takes. Here if they don't have God they have nothing, unlike us where we have a comfortable home with TV, one or two bathrooms, electricity, running water and all the things we consider essential like microwaves, washing machines and dishwashers. Nor do they have a medical centre any time let alone 24 hours a day.
Coming across the border from Zimbabwe into Mozambique yesterday was the biggest culture shock of my life! I thought Zimbabwe was poor but Mozambique is unbelievable. Thousands and thousands of people live in mud huts with thatch roofs along the 'main' highway for 300 kms and then you reach the city which is just slum after slum. The best area (that we are staying in) is full of ancient apartment blocks. But many still don't have running water or sewerage services. These people are so in need of God.
The hardest part so far was visiting an orphanage. It became an orphanage simply because some children were
dumped at the door of a pastor in his late 50's (mostly AIDS orphans).
He now cares for 32 children! No Govt. program or assistance... Brian
and Elizabeth visited last year and left money for the roof to be finished on a
building to house and educate them. Simple
concrete with a new asbestos roof. No
lights or plumbing. The girls' dorm
has just a concrete floor with old broken thin straw mats for sleeping. That's it!
We could do so
much to help, but at times, it seems overwhelming. I could not handle seeing this orphanage - it is much worse than anything
I have ever seen on a World Vision Child Sponsorship TV ad.
24/7/03 A few lines later from Brian
Craig and Michelle are really fitting in exceptionally well and coped with Mozambique very well. Visiting Daniel and the orphans was too much for her and she left weeping. That is so good to see… Daniel has the roof on and the floor concreted in one room as a girls' dormitory. The scene would soften the hardest heart.
There
are 20 Methodists staying at the Base too, from Seattle, building the roof on a
church building. The place is overflowing with people, good coffee and all the
food you could wish for in the US of A!! We
covet their mountains of food as we chomp on our stale bread and jam (with ¼ an
omelette) for breakfast… (is this
"lust"???). The Base ran
out of water yesterday (Tuesday), but after a little chat from Comrade Loxley
the Americans were much more conservative today in water use and we coped OK.
The water runs in the city after about 5.30pm every night, but not during
the day. These folks are very
amenable and don't grumble. They
asked Loxley to speak for an hour last night about the Base here.. Anacleto now has control of it (being a Mozambique national makes it
easier to deal with Govt affairs); he is doing a good job with it, and the photo
will surprise you (if you have read previous reports) how much he has done in
renovations.
We are in good health although Craig has had one of those "Mozambique" health problems. We rebuked it tonight as he is in constant pain in his foot…. And today as I touched on some elements of spiritual warfare, etc, the birds Anacleto has here now (chooks, roosters, guinea fowl, turkeys) all went ballistic! It was so distracting that we called everyone to prayer - and they shut up immediately! That's not a spin-doctor report either, as you may well know.
We
bought 20 NIV Study Bibles with us sponsored by members of our church. They are expensive enough at home, but here they are unattainable with
the crisis in foreign exchange shortages. Loxley
Ford suggested they would best be passed on the pastors and teachers of
churches, rather than the students, as they are chronically short of good
quality resource books and bibles. So,
we formally gave one to Anacleto Ferrão in Beira, in front of his (growing)
congregation (picture right >>).
What
a marvellous Body Christ has put together without human help or engineering!
We had a great time with over
20 pastors here in a
two-day intensive training time for local leaders. It was very animated and quite a few were men I recognised from previous
visits. A
group of pastors came back for a third morning to talk about current issues
affecting them, so we sat out the front of the Base by the seawall (photo).
I love this kind of interaction. There's so much more time here to flesh
out issues without that rotten Western clock mentality hovering in the
background. They refuse to rush off to some other commitment as we do in
Oz. Some asked if we will return
next year and do some more extensive teaching.
We need a good interpreter though, especially when we're teaching and discussing
theological issues. Guilherme (who has looked after Lifeline's
literature office) is still looking ill; his wife was here with their new baby
(she was pregnant when the last one died).
But, the most rewarding moment was earlier this evening when a man called Antonio came to see us at the Base. On Sunday, we prayed for many, many people for sicknesses. This man asked us to pray for his 11 y/o daughter who was seriously ill with cerebral malaria (it kills people here). We did so in faith, and he came today to say she had been miraculously raised up, fully recovered! When he got home, she was out of bed, eating, her strength had returned, the signs of malaria gone! He said in broken English, "I do not want to be like the nine lepers, but like the one who returned to give thanks for the prayers and give glory to God". Loxley and I knelt on our knees with him, hands raised in adoration of a caring Saviour who cares for the helpless and makes them whole…. All I could think of later was how we can see these kind of REAL miracles multiply to see more needs met, and Joy Doughty's words came back to me again, "being truly humble is passing on to God all praise untouched".
[24/7] As a reminder that this is Africa... Tonight as we drove into Harare, we saw a car parked in the dark on our side of the road half across our lane (just missed it); then a cyclist being dragged off the roadway in the dark after he had been knocked off his bike (no idea how badly injured he was), and then 3 youths rob a woman of several things at a Harare corner and run off into an alley... All within 30 minutes of coming into Harare suburbs…
The
descent of Zimbabwe into 80% unemployment has meant growing numbers of homeless
in the cities and towns. The photo
on the left is not a Christmas tree, but a collection of plastic bottles for
recycling in a homeless camp near the Lifeline
base in Harare. It's worth a click!
And on the right - the Mozambique way of AIDS awareness. You don't need any words to see the universal humour and message… Men! They're the same all round the world!
2/8/03 Update #3 - from Nyamandlovu, Matabeleland
Once you get out of the main cities, email is so slow. Heck! It took me half and hour just to find the Swans had knocked off Fremantle (first things first!) … Since Update #1, we have been in Gweru in the Midlands for a week of the Lifeline Ministry Training Program with a mixture of pastors and developing leaders. What hits you (we are the only varungu (white people) in the township area) is the number of fresh gravesites in the cemetery! Incredible! Figures released last week said average life expectancy for a male Zimbabwean is now 40, and a female - 30!!! Can you believe that??
We taught every day from 9 till 5. We have a marvellous bunch of students here again. Both Josephs and Addmore are back. One pastor left home at 3am to get here, another travelled overnight... The level of uncomplaining hardship amazes Craig and Michelle (and me too even after seeing so much of it).
The banks have run out of cash and this is making it hard for us too, as we have between us a total of about $A10… Every morning the queues are back a 100m+ at the ATM's, and they get $Z5000 each ($A3)! The largest Zimbabwe note is now worth $A30c (after 400% inflation this year!). We are keeping our $US cash until Victoria Falls. The level of kindness we have experienced here repeatedly has amazed me. We are staying in Gweru in a lovely comfortable home while the owners are in Australia doing fund raising for their ministry.
We
are 10km out of town and are the only white people in a township of
20,000+! People are very friendly and there is no sense of danger to
us. Craig and Michelle love walking
around. We go for our prayer walk at 7am before breakfast. It is very high here (about 1700m ASL) and known for its cold
mornings, and being very windy too. Gweru
has been quite a lovely rural city that has run down badly.
I am finishing this at the end of our third day of ministry here. They are a great bunch and on a dirt floor with all our stuff dust-covered, we are still having a wonderful time. The pastor's daughter (18) was baptised in the Holy Spirit today. She is so keen to learn and grow. - and gifted too! Michelle has taken up where Elizabeth left off last year with Ruth.
The highlight of our time there was praying for a child that has not seen or moved for several months, after a nanga (witch-doctor) put a curse on her. His eyes were permanently fully closed and he lay in his mother's arms paralysed. We bound the demon. Two nights later the child was in a home group we attended - fully normal and playing! Blind eyes opened through Jesus' name! We saw God do several things in engaging the powers of darkness. This made us very conscious of Jesus' words in Luke 10:17-21 the seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name." He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.
We travelled to Bulawayo this morning and are settling into the Lifeline Ministry Training Program here for the next week. A Christian farmer built a school/hall/church building here (25 km from town), and Craig and Michelle are staying with him and his dear wife. He is now President of Zimbabwe Gideons and is interested in what Michelle is doing at home in our High Schools. But, Loxley and I had nowhere to stay. Once again, at the 10th hour, God supplied, and a neighbouring farmer (not a Christian) offered his overflow accommodation to us. And it is only 10 minutes walk from the hall! Thank the Lord! I met a farmer today who had been kicked off his farm and jailed last year. He is still distressed over what happened to his farm and all the workers and families kicked off the property. His family had developed the farm since the 1890's, before the area was populated...
So, folks, we hope this gives a balanced view of life here and the ministry of Lifeline on the ground. Loxley is turning 66, yet he is still happy to sleep in the most basic of quarters, in rough areas that others would maybe fear for their safety. That's what happens when you are doing what God has called you to - He supplies sufficient grace to do it! And be happy!
4/8/03 Michelle reports from Nyamandlovu…
The students here are a very
different bunch than the students in Gweru. In Gweru, most were pastors of churches (some small home churches, some
larger churches). I had many
opportunities to get to know the four women, Molly, Eilet, Felicia and Ruth,
quite well. They are each facing
unique difficulties and challenges and are each reaching out to God to see Him
break through in their circumstances. Take
Eilet, for example (shaking Michelle's hand) She is a widow of just a few years who has become a Christian
recently. As is the custom here, her dead husband's family wanted one of his
brothers to marry her so they would have access to the estate. She refused, so the in laws organised for a nyanga (witch-doctor) to put
a curse on her and her family. The
result was that her youngest child (around 2 years old) became blind and
limp. When we met her last week the child had been like this for some
months. We applied the word of God, teaching her the power she has as a child of
God to stand against the enemy in the name of Jesus. We then stood with her and prayed with her and for
her. Two days later, I spoke at a combined home group and Eilet was there with
her little boy - and he was running around playing on the ground with the other
children with his eyes open! I can
now truly say I have seen the eyes of the blind opened through the power of
God! AMEN!!!!!
James 2 v 5 is so real here - Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? The people have so little in the eyes of the world but are so rich in God - they have no choice - it is God or nothingI have seen more miracles here in 3 weeks than I have seen in the past three years. And as Debbie reminded me before we came - we are all worshipping the same God in the same Spirit. Let us lift our faith and our dependence on God so that we can all see Him at work amongst us more often and more powerfully. AndWe have continued to be niggled by small things like bouts of diarrhoea and colds.
Brian adds - This restoring of sight and movement to the blind and unmoving child made us very, very conscious of Jesus' words in Luke 10:17-21. The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.? He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.
We travelled to Bulawayo on Saturday (Aug 2) and are settling into the Lifeline Ministry Training Program here for the next week. A Christian farmer built a school/hall/church building here (25 km from town). Elizabeth and I stayed there last year, and Craig and Michelle are staying with him and his dear wife. He is now President of Zimbabwe Gideons and is interested in what Michelle is doing at home in our High Schools. But, Loxley and I had nowhere to stay. Once again, at the 10th hour, God supplied, and a neighbouring farmer offered his overflow accommodation to us. And it is only 10 minutes walk from the hall! Thank the Lord! I met a farmer today who had been kicked off his farm and jailed last year. He is still distressed over what happened to his farm and all the workers and families kicked off the property.
We hope this gives a balanced view of life here. We do lots of walking (some by choice, other times by necessity!). Michelle has already mentioned the constant health attacks we have had on us all along the way. I (Brian) have been hit hard by a virus, and a dry throat (the humidity is extremely low here). This has not made the teaching schedule here easy, with some 5 to 6 hours of public speaking every day.
13/8/03 Update #4 - from Victoria Falls
We are on the outward trail now, after four weeks in the Lifeline
activities. So this update isn't
very religious! Since the last
update, we finished the Training Program at Nyamandlovu (an interesting name...
Ndlovu
is Ndebele for elephant (it's also a common totemic surname), and Nyama
means flesh). It turns out
that the farmer Brian stayed with is a gifted professional painter and the house
was full of wonderful originals (examples enclosed)! The LH one is called "a shadow of his former self" and is a
brilliant comment on the devastation that AIDS is having right where the farm is
- farm workers are dying continually right here. In fact, the farmer is planning to consecrate a cemetery on an unused
area to reduce the cost of burials for the families. He has also painted a well-known bicycle
series. Sadly, the subject is also now dying of AIDS. Click on it to admire
the immense detail Mick has put in it...
Again, we mixed, ate, and mingled with the 16 live-in students for the week, and taught on Christ's example of servant ministry and leadership, the elimination of discrimination in the emerging church, and the associated recognition of the work of the Holy Spirit in each believer's ministry. We saw five students baptised in the Holy Spirit on Thursday night
I (Brian) had been driven out to a repossessed farm one afternoon about 25 km away. 159 groups of re-settlers have moved in, with little water, and introduced foot and mouth to the pedigree Herefords which are now quarantined and unsaleable. I briefly met with the farm workers and their church elders, who asked for any Christian literature in Ndebele. I was able to contact Loxley soon after and the Lifeline office will be sending them the Building Your Life series. But, they are last to get priority in mealie sales - they are not re-settlers. Most people in the south (Matabeleland) are down to one meal a day because of this "distribution differential".
Eight of us then had a brai (bbq) in a dry riverbed under a full moon (one small adder snake removed first). Beautiful sight, only marred slightly on the way out by tales of leopards and two re-settlers being killed last year by an angry elephant. I copped a tic bite on the face somehow, but it healed within a few days.
Into
Bulawayo on Friday for four days in which we attended George Moyo's church yet
again, where a wonderful wedding service / celebration took place. What a joyful time we
had! And
then caught up with Wadzanai (whom our church helped in her marriage last year
to Moses - we supplied the lobola for several mombees/cattle). He has gone to Ireland for work, and she has continued in her nursing
training, topping the class in most subjects. The other photo is of two former Lifeline students, twins - Dumiso
(displaying recent wedding ring) and Sindiso. Both are pastors with Breakthrough churches.
Sunday, Cosmos Sibanda picked us up and we ministered at his church in the outer suburbs. We prayed for many people after teaching on the availability of Christ's provision, when we approach God in His prescribed way - through Christ's atonement. There were many sick, and some demonically oppressed, not to mention the unending material hardship pressures they face here. It makes you take the gospel literally!
Craig and I even attempted a jogging tour of Bulawayo's old elite area! Gasping in the dry warm air 4000 feet ASL. After a rest day, Cosmos picked us up from Zak's Place ("executive suites" at $A27 BnB for 3…). The place kinda works... Nothing works properly here, but it was comfortable…
We drove the 440km to Victoria Falls via Hwange. There's a chronic shortage of diesel, so we bought some around the back of a service station in cans. Afterwards, we found out the semi-trailer drivers steal it from their trucks, sell it to the moonlighters for $Z1000/litre, who resell it for $Z1500 ($A95c!). And it was dirty. Cosmos had to get the filters cleaned when we got to the Falls. We met the senior minister of the Hwange churches who had sent five students over 300km to the Course throughout 2003 (5 x 2 week sessions). He commented they had returned with a different spirit of cooperation and teachability that he had not seen in previous efforts to get them trained elsewhere. Two were filled with the Holy Spirit and he had noticed the change immediately on their return last week!
When
we arrived at Vic Falls, I went to see Sam (Reedbuck Safaris, whom we used two
years ago), and he was able to get us a very amenable 2 bedroom unit right
downtown for only $Z40,000 per night (that's $A6 p/p!). So, we three wandered past the curse of Victoria Falls, the incessant
young male (illegal) money changers, curio sellers, procurers, etc, and had
afternoon tea at the Victoria Falls Hotel (of course!). Pot of proper perc. coffee for
$A60c! At one of the premier world hotels, on one of the most spectacular
terraces anywhere - overlooking the Falls gorge.... Afterwards, we walked out the front gate at dusk and Craig and Michelle
saw some wildlife firsthand for the first time. Within 200m of the electrified perimeter fence, we saw fresh elephant
poo, warthogs, baboons, deer, and then... I
spotted a very large nyarti (buffalo) grazing 100m ahead, right next to
the path we were on! OK, folks,
time for an orderly quick retreat! Through
the gate just as the armed ranger (named Respect...) prepared to lock it for the
night!
Today, Craig and Michelle have gone walking to the Falls and bridge. At $US20 each, we (Brian and Cosmos) stayed at the unit. They are doing the 2hr sunset cruise on the Zambesi today too. And then tomorrow we set out for two days overnight at Sinamatella (in Hwange National Park), where the current reports are of lots of shumba (lions)! And the next day, a full day into Chobe in Botswana. Then, it's home for Brian, and the UK for Craig and Michelle, where they meet up with Anna Jarvis's family.
So,
this is the holiday end of our missions' tour. You can't come here for the first time without pausing to take in the
spectacular nature of the Falls (widest in the world, at 1700m x 100m drop), and
the wildlife. We have seen some amazing sights and experiences in God's Garden of
Eden here... Click on the photo to see the large old male lions who turned
up at dusk to look over the Mazuma waterhole for supper... We saw another
seven the next day in a pride (while we were on foot!). Awesome,
awesome...
A
day trip across the border to Botswana and Chobe River NP was also a highlight.
Elephants doing their mud bath thing so close to our boat we could almost touch
them... (and not even Michelle was scared by then... - after being chased
for 200m at 40k/hr by a very, very angry mother elephant at Hwange, it was all
small change!).
To finish with...
We hope you have caught a glimpse through these updates of the very, very different lifestyle here, not through a tourist's eyes, but from people who are learning to "weep with those who weep", and "rejoice with those who rejoice".
It's been such a blessing to have Craig and Michelle here. They have faithfully prayed with and for me every day. We have all battled niggling sicknesses for the whole time here. And they have adapted very well to the continually changing (and often shambolic!) conditions, and mixed so well in the personal one-on-one that counts for so much as we meet, mix, and live among the local believers.
You feel so small here when you see the unending need, not just materially, but spiritually too. The story that helps though is one we heard of a man walking along the seashore, where a school of fish had beached themselves. He saw another man in front of him walking along and randomly picking up a fish here and there and throwing it back into the deeper water. He said to him, "why bother when there are so many dying?" To which the man replied, "it might not make a difference to them, but it sure made a difference to that one!" We have tried to be faithful and sincere in how we have modelled the Christian behaviour Jesus expects of us, both in word, conduct, and helpful actions. And we hope that, along the way, we have made a difference to "that one" and a few more.
Second Trip - Nov 2003
I (Brian) took a brief 12-day trip back to Zimbabwe in November for a Lifeline Network Leaders live-in 3-day conference. Seven of us met to discuss the direction of the ministry, and came away with much to do. Joy Doughty also came from our church here, not to attend the conference but to meet the people, especially Mavis Ford, and folks at Gweru. Joy spent four years in Kenya in the 1980's, and was a real blessing as she came to Banket and Gwarati, meeting people on the farm churches. We were able to get 100kgs of stuff onto Qantas free of excess rates and distribute shoes and socks to farm pastors, and leave clothing for the main base to distribute, plus a large case of educational stuff and clothes for the Sparrows Nest orphanage in Mozambique. We also took all our Church's collected missions' offerings with us. It was substantial, and received with joy!
The need is accelerating beyond belief. The inflation rate has hit 540% - that's 1.5% per day, and the locals simply cannot factor that into their wage adjustments... The cost of staple foods (mealie, bread, sugar, cooking oil, etc) is spiralling beyond the reach of the ordinary people with no access to forex. Our hearts went out to them more than ever. You feel so helpless to help in any substantial way materially, and do what you can do.
But the Word of God is not chained! The gospel is freely honoured and proclaimed without restraint. So, we travelled up to Banket and Gwarati, onto farms that have been taken over and left unutilised. The farm churches have been severely restricted by the removal of several Christian farmers who were funding the farm pastors. BUT, at Gwarati, following on from a word I felt God give me last year, we rejoiced to find a flourishing congregation consisting of over 75% new converts from the "re-settlers" (sometimes wrongly called "war veterans" - who are another more controlling group of cadres). There they were, young adults, praising God and joined as one with some of the remaining farm workers (now unemployed, but who have nowhere else to move and live).
Peter Zulu declared it was like a second harvest beginning in place of the initial revival in the district some years ago which saw many, many farm churches established. Peter is still having trouble with a growth in his bladder and we just heard today (Dec 12) that he has to have surgery to remove his bladder or it will become life-threatening quickly. This will cost an enormous amount of money (about $A5000 - which last month amounted to $Z20 million! Anyone out there who can help save this precious man's life - help!
The Zulus surrendered two bedrooms so both Joy and I could stay with them - they are like that... So open-hearted. And this was with their son and daughter-in-law and one week old baby living there as well!
The
main reason for the second trip in the same year was to participate in a
Lifeline network leaders 3-day gathering in Harare. It was very
profitable, and we finished with a wonderful meal together at a restaurant
walking distance down the road (not that anyone walked!). The photo shows
Brian acting like the Lord at the Last Supper (we were trying to work out who
Judas was...). (Later note... this was an event of great
significance to Brian, as unbeknown to any of us, it would be the last time
Brian would be with his brother, Peter Zulu. Within two months, the cancer
that had made him so ill, flared up and killed him. A true shamwari and
mukoma - gone home far too early...
2002 TRIP
24/7/02 UPDATE #1 Hello from beautiful, fragrant Beira, Mozambique, where you hope the wind stays on shore….! (you have to be here to understand why). We hope the canvas of life here comes across sharp and fresh as you read this!
We flew into Zimbabwe via Joburg (none flies direct now), then up to Harare where Lifeline, the relief and missions agency our church has worked with for 20 years is based. We had a very beneficial recovery time the last 4 days here in Harare before we left for three weeks of Doulos training courses and travelling between the various places. Our health is good (no food poisoning this time!), the weather is wonderful, and we had a great time catching up with the Lifeline directors, Loxley and Mavis Ford. Brian spent a long time with Edmore, one of the Lifeline Zimbabwean leaders. It is the first time we had seen him since his terrible car accident. He is recovering slowly. He lost almost all of his right hand, and the prosthesis is more cosmetic rather than functional for gripping things. He has had to learn to write left-handed, and can't drive because the whole of his right hand and palm is gone apart from his thumb.
Elizabeth has been out walking and talking with Mavis Ford, the wife of the Sthn Africa Lifeline Director (Loxley Ford). Good cappuccinos are hard to come by here, but they walk anyway! Life in Africa - last year all the street signs had been stolen for aluminium cooking utensils! Now they are putting up plastic ones… A few weeks ago thieves cut down all the phone wires in the street where the Harare base is and carried them off! But when the phone went down again, the fault was at the Exchange (again). We take so much for granted in Oz. Life here is not as dangerous as our media makes out (unless you're a farmer, then it's very tense)…
Oh yes, by the way, the Lifeline truck now sports a big Sydney Swans Aussie Rules sticker on its back window!
We crossed the border late afternoon Sunday after the 300 km drive from Harare. Then another two hours down to Gondola, the town known for its enormous graveyard of rusting old steam railway engines. It's an amazing sight! We walked among them last night and Loxley was a boy with lots of large, very large, toys!
This is the first Doulos course here and is being put on with the sponsorship of a pastor who has lived here since before the Portuguese fled in 1975 and the 17 year-long civil war erupted. He is such an interesting man to listen to. He bought his house, then the Communists took it off him and he has been renting it for about 25 years! Now they have offered to sell it back to him again. The catch has been if you do any repairs, upkeep, etc, they want more money for it. And the Communists have done no repairs, as landlords themselves, in the past 25 years. So, you can imagine the state of the houses. They are unbelievable. Loxley arranged for three light globes and wires to be hung off the roof so they could see at night. The state of decay everywhere is far worse than Beira. It overwhelms you. The sights, the stench. At lunch, a dog, a cat, and then a goat wandered past our table in the dining room. The water supply broke down for the whole town. That was only five years ago and they are going to fix it real soon now…. So, you use borehole water, hand pump it up and then bucket it into the house….
We are staying at Maforga orphanage just up the road (run by an ex-pat Aussie and his wife). It has about 150 people living in the bush with all sorts of projects going. They are out of money so breakfast consists of bread, honey or jam (no margarine today), and tea. And that's it. The civil war went through here several times and the orphanage leaders were kidnapped by Renamo in the late 1980's and force-marched for many weeks across Mozambique. It's quite an amazing story, as the guerrilla leader became a committed Christian as a result of this and is now one of the head foremen at Maforga!
Our course went well. The power was off after a hailstorm the night before, but no worries, it came on mid-afternoon. The public toilets next to the church are a sight all ladies would die for… The men's long drop (hole in the floor) is at least on top of the ground, because the ladies has sunk into the cesspit over the years and is now 1.5 metres sunk into the ground! Elizabeth wouldn't go near it! Next to them, an old leper who has only stumps where his hands (wrists only now) and feet (ankles gone) once were, makes a living shaping and selling leftover timber. His name is Thomas, and the owners of Maforga built him a small one-room cottage years ago and he has become a local identity. There are cripples and maimed people everywhere. John Moyo tells us landmines still go off and maim people. It is all we can do to cope emotionally. The need is so vast and we are so small. But at least we have had the opportunity to minister to some 40 local leaders who can do something longterm for the needy there.
Today (Wed), we set out for Beira (3 hours drive away, where we do another two full days Thursday and Friday, before the long drive back to Harare Saturday. On the way down, we stopped to see an old friend from previous visits. Daniel Caetana. He and his wife have pastored in Nyamatanda, 100km inland from Beira for 30 years. On our previous visits, he has caught the shaperzays (jam-packed old bomb minibuses) down and back daily for the seminars. He's our age, speaks excellent English, and has a keen sense of humour. Today, he had some extra houseguests living with him - over 30 orphans! They started caring for a few orphans a while ago as the AIDS epidemic spread, then people started dropping unwanted, and/or single parent children at his door. He has started building an orphanage on his property, but ran out of money before the roof went on. The building will house over 40 children, but in the meantime, they are using their entire house to sleep the orphans on the floor at night! Heck! And this man is 56! I tried to put myself in his shoes, and I couldn't. Talk about putting your faith into action! They have the cement roofing but no rafters yet. About the cost of a night out for four in a Sydney restaurant would cover it….
We have been quite overwhelmed being here - more so than Beira ever has hit us, and that was hard enough. Please, folks, don't ever complain about your lot in life or else we will bring you here, and believe us, you will never complain again! About anything!
We hope this doesn't sound too preachy, or too much like a travelogue, or like a bleeding-heart guilt-tripper. But, we sure hope your heart is touched by what we send. Hakuna wah kaita sa Jesu! Regards from the Rensfords (Brian and Elizabeth).
1/8/02 UPDATE #2 Since our previous Update, we have been travelling, teaching, and experiencing life in most unusual circumstances… This trip is very different from our previous visits. But, there is only so much we can openly relay...
We drove south from Harare to Gweru, a cold, windswept, rural city in the middle of Zimbabwe. There we conducted our third Doulos program with a small group of local pastors in a high-density residential area. It was like no other location! The roof was half-built, the floors were dirt, there was no glass in any window so they were covered with tarpaulins and sheets of rusty corrugated iron, and the back wall was made of hessian cloth. There was no power, but we did have a blackboard! Yeah, but no proper seats, just bits of wood and iron tied together.
Yet, the men were terrific to relate to! We loved spending time with them. They had very able minds and we got into many deep and serious discussions. And we went with them to two house meetings; one was in a tiny two-room shack where the wife had given her life to Christ a month ago. People were jammed in the lounge / dining / kitchen room (3m x 3m). The next night was in another part of the township (it has 20 village areas called Mkoba 1 to 20!), and we got lost in the rabbit warren of small roads! The house there was very well appointed and much larger. We have had a far greater liberty in praying for the sick and oppressed and have seen God do some wonderful things. The pastors relayed back later several reports of healing and release - including the best one of all - a very old 80 y/o mama who was greatly touched by God as we ministered to her.
This is an area we were concerned about before we came - to add actions to the teaching and instruction side of what we are involved in. We have seen God's provision, demonic agitation, many sick people reaching out and being ministered to (especially babies and children), and you can't help but be moved by the need. There are few medical resources available to ordinary folks here. So, they reach out to Jesus just like the people in Galilee 2000 years ago.
The queue for mealie (the staple diet) was a km long at the food market yesterday. It breaks your heart. The nation is not really in a bad drought; it is a distribution issue, and now there are no stored grains left. Diesel is plentiful though.
Thursday, we drove further south to an area near Bulawayo. The farmer who so kindly hosted us is under standby eviction orders and is supposed to be off the land by Aug 10. We have walked into the middle of a most stressed time, as they are older folks and have farmed here for over 40 years and are now waiting to see what happens after D-Day. All their possessions are being catalogued. Some of their personal house staff has taken off (we think, in fear). There are 300 local people living on the property. The farmer is a very committed Christian and has built a large well-appointed church and school facility nearby. We have power there and toilets that work properly! (long drops of course; they are Blair toilets - and if you know Africa - Mr Blair (no, not Tony!) was a British engineer who invented an odour-free air-circulating long drop dunny! Thank God for Mr Blair! Elizabeth loves him (especially after Mozambique!)….
Our host has a very large and stately home with a ferocious boer-bull guard dog that prevents us from strolling in the well-appointed gardens! So, we walked around the farm this morning, with good old Brian greeting the locals (Ndebele tribe) with "lichoneelee", and getting smiles but puzzled looks. And then discovering he's saying "good afternoon / evening" to people at 7am!!! The house is like something out of Sunset Boulevarde; what a change from Gweru! And the tents we will be sleeping in at Binga in the bush in two weeks! So, we are making the most of their kindness and hospitality until we leave in another two days.
8/8/02 UPDATE #3 Hello again from Harare. Elizabeth and I have just returned from Chinhoyi, 120km north of here, where we finished the fifth Doulos course at 4 this afternoon. We have kept excellent health this trip; thank the Lord, and are very appreciative to everyone who has been praying for us. We walk and pray every day, and have really enjoyed this time. It's been quite exhausting as we are near the end of a three-week series of five programs with a lot of travelling between them. We have had no rest days at all; it's been either travel and / or teaching long hours. But, the Holy Spirit has carried us along.
This trip, we have been crying out to God for more effectiveness in ministry fulfilment of the principles taught. And God has been breaking through. We have seen more healings and people stepping out in prophecy for the first time. In the last Doulos course in Chinhoyi, there are 10 students living in for 2 weeks, and we (wrongly) assumed they were all baptised in the Holy Spirit. Last night, we had six baptised in the Holy Spirit, with release in tongues. And then some in prophecy and one in a (very biblical) vision too. On the coming weekend, we are back at Banket at the annual Heroes' Long Weekend farm convention for all the farm churches in the area. They get between 1500 - 6000 come. This is the one that last year got canned because of the troubles, and we were moved into the township for safety reasons. But things have settled down a lot (despite what the foreign media may say), and they are all looking forward to gathering on a Christian farmer's property. This godly man provides a large meeting area and accommodation huts for everyone. Amazing.
Today is the day all the farmers are supposed to be off their properties, but a lot are staying put, many with the quiet approval of local authorities. After the farm convention, we drive a long way the next day into the bush to take some seminars for rural church leaders near Lake Kariba. It's a bad malaria area, but at least the elephants are not raiding their crops this year (like last year when their leaders came down to Doulos!). We may even get to hunt kudu with Peter Zulu!!
To finish off…. What strikes us forcefully is the number of fresh graves everywhere in the public cemeteries. It's unbelievable, and really does bring the AIDS epidemic home in your face. This is very different from good old Aussie…
17/8/02 UPDATE #4 The last week has been one of the most interesting (and somewhat weirdest of our lives!). This report (like the others) respects the particular sensitivities of the current situation. Our week went like this…
We drove the 100 kms to the farm convention very early Sunday morning. Numbers were way down again. The particular location is a listed property for a Section 8 resumption which comes into effect very soon. Already, there are 35 resettled families of settlers occupying the farm, lining the track into the convention area. This made it very interesting for us (being varungu - white foreign people), but Elizabeth and I went for a (prayed up!) walk among them during Sunday and greeted people in Shona along the way - without incident. Several of these people (some media call them war veterans, but they are not; they are resettled people) came up and attended the meetings (more on that in a later report….). Brian urged the local Christians to reach out to these dislocated and resettled people, as they are candidates for "who is my neighbour?" evangelism. It was a "quite exciting" time of ministry!
Loxley and Brian taught in the morning sessions, then we went to lunch with the farm's resident pastor, Peter Banda, whom we have had fellowship with before several times. His house stands alone nearby, and they lost their kitchen and storehouse huts in a grass fire recently (the amount of burnoff here drives us nuts as Aussies; it's an obsession! The land is scorched for miles everywhere in winter, not just bush areas, but in the towns too….).
The night meeting went on under portable generator power, and in the middle of the dancing (you have to understand that a meeting isn't a meeting here without lots of dancing!), as the dust swirled off the dry ground, we looked up from the platform we were sitting on to see a tractor and water cart chugging up the farm road. He drove right across in front of the platform (the area in the photo), into the middle of where a hundred plus people were dancing out the front and proceeded to hose down the dust while the music continued! We have never seen a service like this in our lives!!! Yet, it was a wonderful night of colour, worship, under the stars, preaching and ministry. We prayed (encouraging the farm pastors to join us) for around 200 people for healing, salvation, baptism in the Holy Spirit, etc. A demonised young woman fell backwards and after lying still for 30 minutes began to thrash around on the ground. Immediately a group of leaders (men and women) attended to her with ministry. As we finished praying for people, I asked our host, Peter Zulu (the Coordinator and senior minister of the farm churches network) if everything was OK, to which he replied in a classic understatement, "yes, she is OK now; the Intensive Care team are now looking after her…."
We also spent time in the afternoon with the farm owners, who have so graciously provided the facilities. Every year they re-thatch the hedges around the toilets, wash areas, cooking pits, and the meeting facility. It all worked very well! Yes folks, you can squat here in clean surroundings! They even bring clean water to all the facilities on big tractor carts (no dunny paper here unless you bring your own!) The owners are on standby to leave the farm after 22 years, and have not done any farming since Christmas. It was a sad occasion, and gave us insight into things from the inside. They are greatly loved by the local Christian community (mostly farm workers, many of whom are now losing their jobs now that farm work has ceased).
Then, after a night at Peter and Martha's home in the township (no drums this Heroes' weekend - unlike the incessant noise last year), we stayed at Chinhoyi to use up the last night of our prepaid motel accommodation that we had not used for the local Doulos program the week before. It was lovely! And empty… A very basic, but clean place, and we walked all through the (large) town where last year no murungu would be seen on the streets because of the tension after 21 farmers were arrested and jailed. The difference this year was amazing. We really love walking around among the local people. Brian's Shona has improved a lot, and it draws a friendly response most times.
On Tuesday, Loxley and Peter loaded up their 4WD's and we drove to one of the most remote areas of the country. There were only 110 kms of unsealed road, but the corrugations on the last 60 km are unbelievable! The gravel ruts were so high you wouldn't get a car through. We pitched camp in the bush just inside Matusadonha NP (15km from where the Pommie tourist got dragged out of his tent and eaten by a shumba (lion) two years ago!). And here we were - in flimsy tents! We spent three nights there listening to every noise in the dark! Cowards that we are! A hyena visited us two nights. Peter opened his flap and roared at it in Shona from about 2 metres! Momma mia! Kudu (large deer) called from nearby one night, but no shumba… We were told the second day that there are currently lions all over the place. One killed a donkey 2 kms away a week or so before. And on the second morning, one of the local Christians who came over to see us said he had passed some elephants up the road (they go after the local farmers' plots). No wonder we felt like we didn't sleep peacefully!... And no drinks after 5pm, coz there's no way we were going outside the tent for a pee after going to bed! The locals said the tourist did that and the lion followed him back into his tent later on the same night...
We had meetings with two of the local pastors' people and another two with their leaders (all three had been in our Doulos course last year, where they had invited us to visit their area). But Bvumai (the one whose worn-out socks adorn our church noticeboard and African room at home!) was out chasing his lost donkey…. Sounds like something out of the Old Testament… We had never seen so many babies! The place was crawling with children. Lifeline distributed clothing both places we visited. This is one of the poorest areas of Zimbabwe. They are living on Christian food aid (the elephants steal most of their crops every year), and we left all the clothing we had brought in our spare cases too. Brian gave away half his clothes again. You can't help it when you see the poverty. And the hardship…. One night, a man brought his son to our bush camp. The 11 y/o had just been attacked by a spitting cobra, which had spat venom into his eyes. We had no medicine, but Loxley was able to wash the venom out with copious water, and pray for him. He recovered noticeably. This stuff overwhelms you and you determine again NEVER to complain about Medicare availability at home!
To top it all off, we spent one day driving on the worst road we have ever seen in our entire lives (no kidding) into Taschinga in the NP. It was a trip to remember. The back window popped out of the HiLux cab, because of the vehicle twisting on the riverbeds, rocks, etc. But it brought us out to the most magnificent piece of bush on the edge of Lake Kariba (nearly 300km long and up to 50km wide). A Christian missions' group of 20 young people were stranded in a riverbed 20 km from the road-end, where their big 4WD truck had snapped a diff. The young people had pitched their tents on the sand and were waiting for some tools to arrive. They would be there for two days minimum doing the African thing - waiting…
At Taschinga, we walked into a control zone with 5 black rhino which are part of a protection program - with two armed rangers, we hasten to add! Spent an hour at close range watching them (like, from only 20 meters away)… A marvellous sight. One ranger had just killed a lion, which had attacked him at night in the dark. He heard it creeping up on him and his keen hearing saved his life as it leapt at him. The shumba are so numerous they have chased much of the game into the mountains we crossed to get there. So, on the way out, up high, we drove into a very closely-bunched herd of buffalo (an indication of lions nearby). No. the lions didn't bite us, but Elizabeth copped two tsetse fly bites (they follow the buffalo). By the time we drove out of the track it was right on dark, and boy, were we glad to head back to the camp. A day we will never forget.
At least in the bush there were no mozzies (and therefore, no malaria). But mopane flies! They make our Aussie ones look like amateurs. They are small and crawl in your eyelids! We slept on thin backpacker foam sheets, and remembered we are too old to be doing this… Coupled with the nervousness we had over the presence of lions, we didn’t sleep much at all! Peter Zulu didn’t help by telling us of the time he was camping in the bush when a male lion roared at them from (a tiny) 15 metres away; he turned and saw its red eyes in the firelight, before everyone broke the world short-course sprint record by leaping into the Land Rover, where all 5 of them spent the night huddled together! Singing songs like, "fear not" just doesn't help in such times…
On the drive out, we got three punctures between the two vehicles (an indication of how rough the "main" road was! They couldn't move the wheel nuts the first time (the tools didn't fit), and Brian saved them with some old Kiwi fix-anything-with-a-piece-of-fencing-wire creativity! It took us a whole day to get back to Harare. We were all exhausted, as the Binga district is also the hottest part of Zimbabwe. It was up over 30 every day.
This has gone too long, but we hope you catch something of what it's been like. I (Brian) lay in our tent the last night, listening to the sounds of the bush, and thought of my early years growing up in Auckland NZ in a housing commission area, with a mother who loved to read to my brothers and me stories of Africa and adventure, never dreaming that one day I would be privileged enough by God to actually go, not as a tourist, but to be involved in things that have significance, and to grow in ability to relate to the people as my brothers and sisters in Christ. I am so grateful for the exposure I had years ago to many Maori people, who unknowingly were teaching me things that have been so very useful here. Our lives have truly been blessed by our Saviour…
#5
Final Update from home
G'day
from the Rensfords at Joburg airport - waiting for that lovely Qantas plane to
fly us to Perth. We spent the last
week driving down from
Harare, and covered more than 2500km - because we got the wobbles once we
crossed the border out of Zimbabwe and veered across to Kruger National Park and
the majestic Drakensberg mountains.
After the past 5 weeks up north, this week was a holiday, despite the
travelling.
We spent three glorious days in Kruger and couldn't believe how well Sth
Africans run things.
Graded roads in place of corrugated goat tracks, and so on.
We saw so much wild game (couple of photos attached for proof.
We stayed in very comfortable quarters and were lastly looked after by
the operators of Emmanuel Press in White River (330km from Joburg) in their
guest accommodation.
We attended a black church that meets next door that has one white member
- Loreen Newington, the 81 y/o widow of David Newington.
They came out from Scotland to Africa in 1945 and founded Emmanuel Press,
which continues to produce Christian literature in over 100 African languages!
She is a real sharp old lady!
Brian mentioned we had both been influenced many years ago in our Ministry Training College by Jean "Granny" Beruldsen from Scotland; Granny had come to Australia via a long stint in China as missionaries from Edinburgh AoG in the early 1930's. Loreen's eyes lit up and she exclaimed, "Jean was my youth leader before they left Scotland!" What an amazingly small world… She told us a lot about Granny's background that we weren't aware of. Yeah, heaven will be one big reunion!…
That's it, folks. Hope you have a clearer picture of things over there from what we have sent you. One last hearty thank you once again to everyone who has prayed for us. Oh has it been so noticeable! In health, in protection, in spiritual safety in a highly demonised environment, in "chance" encounters with people, in Christian contact and opportunities to express in practical ways, God's great love for all mankind. Hakuna wah kaita sa Jesu!
And there's more information on Lifeline's work in Southern Africa on www.hnlc.org.au/lifeline
2001 TRIP
2/8/01 Update #1 What a start to my fourth trip to Africa in the last four years! And I can't even blame African hygiene! After four days ministry with New Life Churches in Perth, WA, I came down with violent food poisoning on the flight from Joburg to Harare a day later. Never eat prawns on a flight… After arriving in Joburg, I found Debbie already had landed direct from Sydney, and Sherry McLean, our very gracious host arrived soon afterwards. Next morning she dropped us at the airport, and bingo! Brian is staring at the ceiling… An agonising stop in Harare's brand new airport for two hours (spent running to the washroom regularly), and the Hess's rescued us (I had given Loxley the wrong flight arrival time). They took us home and I spent the next three days giving new meaning to runner's hit-outs… Sometimes not making it in time…
My gut is rumbling as I write this. I am taking up a special offering to cover the cost of toilet paper I have used the past three days. I am in some pain from gas and diarrhoea. Debbie is advising me on what I should eat and how little. I feel like Paul with Luke, the personal physician In tow! She was a great help actually, while I wanted to die. It's no joy cleaning the dunny - walls and all - at 2am, and having a quick bath at 4am… I am definitely NOT called to India, where I understand this kind of rapid weight reduction program is quite common…
Thank God for the three days here to get oriented. It seems this bug has been slower to dislodge than I had reckoned on. Last night I had to leap out of bed 4 times and race to the dunny - twice too late, and had to clean myself up yet again. I feel like a 2 y/o. So, the three days recovery in Harare before heading down to Mozambique was a godsend. Recovered while our Mozambiquan visas were processed, then off to the downhill descent to Dante's Inferno!
9/8/01 Update #2 I have recovered really well and thank the many who prayed for me while I spend lots of time on the throne. For the past five days we have been involved in the Doulos training program for pastors in the port city of Beira, in Mozambique. The effects of the 17 years long civil war are still everywhere, although signs of recovery are starting to show. They were expecting about 15 pastors and leaders to turn up and everyone was quite amazed when some 45 came - most for the whole three days! This gave us quite an extended opportunity to present elements of the course which balances development of ministry with character issues - something that was sadly lacking in former days in this place. (The ministers' fraternal leader died of AIDS a few years ago!).
Debbie is slowly recovering from the culture shock of Beira! She spoke at two midweek meetings and did quite well tonight (after I told her to slow down - her Aussie accent was losing the interpreter…). They now have replaced pulpit candles with kero lamps (so it's harder to set fire to your Bible!). Afterwards we walked across the courtyard to pray with the widow of a brother who was buried yesterday. Everyone left some money. She lives in one room! Such poverty, yet the church has been very kind to her. It was very moving, being in a darkened room with only one small candle for light, praying for a woman who has nearly nothing. It is so much closer to NT life (and need and death) here than at home. You get dragged back to the basics without the frills of Western religion.
We return to two more week-long courses in Zimbabwe. One in a rural area where transport is especially difficult, and the other in Bulawayo - second city of Zimbabwe. I am supposed to be speaking with Loxley at a Conference in the first area before Doulos starts, but circumstances have developed that are making arrangements rather difficult. Please pray that we may have God's guidance for the next week especially. Debbie is staying in Harare with Mavis, for the first three days before she joins the team at Doulos. Peter Zulu is going to shoot some kudu to feed the pastors who gather for the two weeks! (They are a large tasty local deer). Boy! This beats our Aussie way of doing things!
Update from Harare Thursday night - we arrived back after a slow 12 hour trip from Beira. The trip was relatively uneventful (this means the border crossing went AOK and we had no near misses). A car from Barnabas ministries (USA) passed us twice in Mozambique, but we caught him 145 km out from Harare. Turned out they had been given dirty fuel and their car was travelling along in fits and starts at 40kph. The American is due to fly out early tomorrow so we took him on board with us and dropped him at his stopover house nearby here. He was so grateful after starting to get concerned about making it (his luggage had disappeared coming into Africa too). Here everyone helps everyone (there are not a lot of cars on the highways).
And where would we be without the wonders of the Internet even in Africa, where we can sit stunned at the joyous news that the Sydney Swans walloped rivals the Kangaroos by 107 points last weekend! And my footy tips can still be sent in… What a strange world we're now living in… Thanks again to everyone praying for us.
17/8 Update #3 Last weekend, Loxley, Moses and I were 100km from Harare for two days where Loxley and I were the speakers at a combined churches convention in a commercial farming area. We left Debbie with Mavis in Harare, as it was "Heroes Long-Weekend", a public holiday when revolutionary heroes of the war of Independence are honoured nationwide. The situation has been extremely tense here; it is the same area you may have heard that 20 farmers were arrested and jailed just days before, after some were alleged to have assaulted some new settlers who had moved onto one farm. We have had to be extremely careful.
When we drove into the area, the senior minister was waiting for us on the highway before the town. It turned out an older (white) man had just been attacked and badly beaten right outside the building we will be using this coming week for Doulos, and he did not think it safe for us to call in there. So, we drove past straight to his house in the (African) township further down the road.
Rocks were thrown on our roof Saturday night. The pastor says this happens from time to time. The drums beat all around us all night (literally!) Sat. and Sun. as people brewed beer in honour of their ancestors and to call in their spirits to join them in their houses. We are told that for some reason August is the busiest month for this activity. I found it a not-restful spiritual atmosphere, to put it mildly…. There was a palpable presence of demonic forces. BUT ALSO, God's abundant, sufficient, superior presence too!
The meetings have been a great time of noise, celebration, and worship! Because of transport and safety problems, they were moved off a farm where they normally have over 1500 people come together, to the local township's church building, where there is only room for 400 to 500. The place was jammed. My ears are still ringing! But I got my own back, by teaching them "an Aussie song" both days - both ones Marcus Leiman taught us at home in Shona. This delighted them! They knew them of course, but I made them sing without the ever-present loud distorting keyboards, and the harmony settled into a beautiful bass (men) soprano (women) and me somewhere in the middle, leading out the first word of each line in true African style! Marcus would have been proud of me! I felt like the white kid in the jail scene in the film, the Power of One!
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Debbie with Cynthis Moyo and children (Blessing and Blessed Joy) in Bulawayo >>> |
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Five days later - the situation has quieted down somewhat, but there is tension in the air. Farmhouses have been looted nearby and the Government has announced additional police protection for the district. I have been for a jog twice - but made sure I am never in sight of the main highway. Such a pity as the area is so fertile and the local people so friendly. The official reports are blaming criminal elements from Harare for the violence and damage. But I had my first ever in four trips experience of racist antagonism when a young man walked past the Doulos property and spat at me in Shona, "are you a farmer?!?" Moses interpreted and was not impressed either.
We ate kudu (a large deer) two nights; delicious! Peter Zulu has promised to take me hunting next visit up near Matusadonha (you may remember the poor Pommie tourist up there who left his tent open last year and got eaten by a lion!).
Debbie arrived up Monday with Mavis, Loxley's wife. She is getting on well with the female students attending this Doulos course. The hotel the course is located in is a grand relic of former times. Large, spacious, and partly renovated. Peter Zulu and his family have given up two rooms of their home to accommodate Debbie too, now she has arrived. They are such gracious hosts. He is rebuilding the Land Rover that was wrecked in April - using crude equipment, the locals are resurrecting it from the dead! Quite amazing.
The course is going well. I am doing similar material to last year, on "handling the Bible correctly" and this time looking at the automatic bias in all of us from our family, social, tribal, and national conditioning. Today, in my last session before we drive back to Harare tonight, I covered getting your "feet washed daily by your fellow slaves". We had some real fun doing this - practising reclining at table a la 1st C AD (as in the photo above), and keeping our left hand away from the table and food, explaining the Latin for left hand is sinister!
Debbie has taken some lectures and done the Doulos material justice! She is starting to settle into an African framework of time, relationships, and joy…. The week has been tense, but fulfilling, and the bonds built we hope will endure. The student numbers were more than halved by the trouble and transport situation.
One last cameo to give you an idea of what pastors from this part of the world face…. You will never complain again, believe me! I brought again spare clothes and shoes from home to fill up my airline luggage limit. Peter Zulu recommended certain students (several are older men) who do it hard. One comes from an area where they never have enough food because the elephants come in and raid their crops! I found that a pair of good quality running shoes Jim Barr gave me to pass on fitted him perfectly. He was so thrilled. I told him he needed to wear socks to stop the inside of the shoes wearing away (like the ones he had on). At which point he pulled a worn pair of socks out from under his soles in the shoes and put them on. Only thing was - they had no bottoms! The toes and heels were worn away; there was only the part over the top of his feet and ankle left. I said to him he needed to make sure he used full socks when he got home (several hundred kms away) to stop the new shoes wearing away. He looked at me embarrassed and said, "these are my only socks"…. What could I do? Heck, I have three pairs of thick running socks with me. Ummm, isn't that what 1 John 3:17-18 says? If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. Man, this stuff comes home with a whack… How easy we have it at home. I don't feel guilty about this, but where I can make a difference, I have no other option if I love God. So I did a sock swap with him, so I can bring his home and show our church what pastors in Africa put up with without complaining! (one sock is now displayed in our African Room at home in a glassed frame! It really hits visitors!).
23/8 Update #4 This Saturday night, we finish our time in Bulawayo, Moses Koroka arrives to join us, and we climb on an overnight train to Victoria Falls. Four days of seeing the part of Zimbabwe tourists are more familiar with, and then we split up. I return home, Moses catches a bus back to Harare, and Debbie flies on to London for two weeks. Debbie is doing really well on this third Doulos program. She is now teaching and leading discussion groups every afternoon, and the students are relating to her really well. This one has about 13 women in it - mostly younger ones, and they relate to her very well. You should have seen her helping cook the sudza yesterday! (have a look at the photo below) They were amazed she would offer to help in the kitchen.
Things are much safer here racially, but there is a high criminal risk in this area after dark. One of the girls had a knife at her throat 150 meters from here coming to the session just after dark. The people here are doing it really hard. Honestly, you would never moan again. When we arrived, the 20+ students had been living on sudza for lunch, no morning or afternoon tea (not even tea or cordial), sudza and cabbage for dinner. No sauce, relish, meat, no fruit, no coffee or tea, no dessert. Debbie and I looked at each other and said, "how can we stay in George's house (the course is being held next door in a church hall) and eat ordinary portions, while these students aren't getting enough for basic health?" So, we asked how much to add meat, and some vegetables to the menu for 20+ students. Now they have these things and are happy, and you know what it cost us? For 4 days? Eight Australian dollars each! You can hardly call that sacrificial giving can you?? Several of the students have been battling illnesses here. Mosquitos are out in force, and although this is not a strong malaria district (like where we're going Sunday is), you have to cover up carefully.
Oh yeah, and the male students are sleeping on carpet pieces on concrete floors in the old servants' quarters…. Don't tell me they're not keen to learn and grow! And in all this, none of them complain… I've been trying to translate this to Australia if we tried to run a training program like Doulos in these conditions…. I can't!
I have been doing my biased, our-own-culture's "normal" values system to "kingdom normal" series, and things came alive yesterday especially - on the subject of spiritual warfare and ministering deliverance - this is in their face all the time in this culture. We discussed how to counter the "mhondoro" (district ruling spirits), and the "flies" that work under their authority.
Wadzanai preached Tuesday night. She is the young lady some of you have heard of through Moses Koroka courting her. Man, she has an exceptional gift! A very keen-for-God young lady, and well spoken. Moses knows what he is doing there… Now he needs only 10 mombees (cows) or $Z200,000 ($A2200) for her lobolo - bride price - and he can marry her! It will take a miracle provision in this economic depression, where they don't even have enough money to properly feed themselves.
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Brian finally gets his heart's desire when Alice (student) and husband make him a Zimbabwean shirt!! >>> |
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Every time I come here, I go home and say, "I will never complain about anything in Aussie again!" This time, I'm saying it with double the sincerity! This morning, about 6.15, I set out on my normal morning prayer walk, to be greeted by the sight of several men patrolling the streets, before the garbage truck collected the rubbish, sifting through the household garbage bins.
Lastly, thanks once again to everyone who has prayed constantly for us here. We have been conscious of the support - honestly. I am writing this in my room before going to take my first session for the day. The students are next door, and the sound of their incredible si